Topic: Injuries to Minors

You’re deeply depressed by your recent North Carolina injury. Whether some idiot in a truck bashed your car by blowing through a stop sign, or a doctor misread your chart and gave you a medication that made you literally sick to your stomach, you are in pain. You are angry; you are confused; and you are deeply dismayed by your situation and the prospects for your future.

Obviously, what’s done is done. You can’t go back in time and undo the North Carolina truck accident or reverse the doctor’s negligent decisions. And you may indeed have a long road to hoe. You might never regain function of your leg. You might need to be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. You might never be able to work as you once did. The brain damage caused by the accident may permanently limit your ability to be productive to two to three hours a day.

When you sit there and contemplate these scenarios–particularly the worst case scenarios–you can easily spiral into depression and apathy. This is really unfortunate. When you are depressed and/or apathetic, you may fail to take important kinds of action–such as contacting a reputable North Carolina mass tort law firm ASAP–because you feel too hopeless to persevere.

This is a shame, because science shows that our emotional immune systems are remarkably resilient.

Even IF a worst case scenarios plays out for you–e.g. you’re permanently hobbled by the accident or no longer able to work in a career that you love–these setbacks will not doom you to a lifetime of depression and unhappiness. Or at least they don’t necessarily mark you with that destiny.

That may sound very counterintuitive. But if you look at the research, those statements bare out.

Lottery winners notoriously experience euphoria for the first weeks or months after they win. But they ultimately wind up just as happy–and just as sad!–as they were before the pay day.

Likewise, people injured so severely that they are left as quadriplegics suffer extreme depression in the first few weeks and months. But they ultimately rebound to feel just as happy as they did before the devastating event.

This isn’t to say that you don’t have problems — that you shouldn’t feel depressed or anything. Rather, you should appreciate that your current emotional state is probably temporary.

Even more importantly, you need to avoid getting trapped by your emotions into “doing nothing” and/or into making impulsive and not-strategic actions that can have negative long-term implications for your finances and healthcare options.

To that end, consider connecting with the DeMayo Law team now at (877) 529-1222 for a free consultation, so that we can put you on a more strategic path with respect to your case.

Are we witnessing the beginnings of a major mass tort battle in North Carolina (and well beyond?)

Perhaps so. And big beverage companies may be on the receiving end.

Last year, for instance, a woman in Australia allegedly died from over consuming Coca-Cola. According to the Chicago Sun Times, a Maryland teenager died after drinking two large Monster Energy drinks in a single 24-hour period. These drinks contain a lot of caffeine and also a lot of sugar. While testifying before Chicago City Council, Edward Burke discussed a federal report “that showed the number of annual hospital visits tied to highly caffeinated energy drinks doubled between 2007 and 2011 — to 21,000.”

According to the President of Chicago Medical Society, Dr. Howard Axe, “super caffeinated energy drinks,” such as Red Bull, Monster Energy, and Rockstar, pose serious health risks, “including possible fatalities to adults and children, particularly those with preexisting conditions.”

The legal brouhaha in Chicago is focused on the adverse health effects of over consuming caffeine. Another, potentially more fraught and momentous debate has to do with the adverse effects of the overconsumption of liquid sucrose. As most famously articulated by pediatric obesity specialist, Dr. Robert Lustig, calories from liquid sucrose may have especially adverse effect on the liver because of the way the fructose component of sucrose gets metabolized by that organ. Lustig builds the case — at least in the doses that modern North Carolinians consume sugar — that “calorie is not a calorie.” The consumption of sugary liquid beverages, like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and even many fruit juices, may be doing tremendous harm to our population and precipitating problems like metabolic disease, obesity, diabetes, and even heart disease.

So far, obviously, we have yet to see a major class action or mass tort lawsuit against beverage companies. But some health advocates are suggesting that we may be witnessing at least the beginnings of such machinations — they compare our current era to the era a few years before Big Tobacco was held to legal account for advertising and selling dangerous products.

If you have recently been harmed by a product or service, you are probably far less interested in the legal battle over energy drinks than you are with your own wellbeing, financially, medically, and otherwise.

The team here at the law offices of Michael A. DeMayo proudly represents victims and their families in serious North Carolina personal injury matters. Please get in touch with us today by calling (877) 529-1222, so we can provide you a free consultation and help you get educated and informed about your options.

Whether your son broke his ribs in an SUV rollover, your husband tore his ACL on an amusement park ride, or you suffered a devastating home fire when your space heater malfunctioned, you understand you have the potential to take some kind of legal action and perhaps to participate in a North Carolina class action or mass tort lawsuit.

But you are confused about what to do next. Should you connect with a legal team like DeMayo Law or “deal with the situation yourself” — i.e. work directly with an insurance company?

Everyone has different needs and sensitivities and comforts. But it’s important to be rational rather than impulsive when you make a big decision like this.

We often play to our superstitions rather than to logical common sense.

Consider the diverse nature of our strange beliefs. Whether you are afraid of the number 13; you bet your wedding date when you play the lottery; or you worry about a black cat crossing your path or something along those lines, part of you recognizes that you’re being ridiculous with the superstitions.

You understand that that you are using “magical thinking” and not logic. But even when you “call out” your superstitions — call your own bluff — you may not be able to overpower your subconscious resistance. You may not, for instance, ever feel comfortable sleeping on the 13th floor of a hotel. If you’re Russian, you may refuse to shake someone’s hand when they reach through a doorway to you.

Depending on how deeply you hold strange beliefs, they can really hamper your life.

The point is that wrestling with such strange beliefs–even when you make those beliefs conscious and you appreciate that they’re clearly irrational–is more challenging than meets the eye.

As much as we should “trust our guts” in certain situations, we also need to learn how and when to challenge our intuitions in order to achieve best results.

To that end, if you have reservations about connecting with an attorney–or if you have some strange belief about why you are not someone who “does” lawsuits, reflect on that received wisdom. Are those concepts actually serving you right now?

Consider, for instance, the worst thing that could happen, if you got a consultation with attorney, versus the best thing that could happen if you did. That the more that you can shine rational light on your fears, the more you can move beyond them and make more compelling and useful decisions.

Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser Beer, is facing a pretty serious class action lawsuit that alleges that the brewer watered down its products prior to bottling.

Thus far, plaintiffs in Texas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Jersey, Colorado, Ohio, and California have all filed suit against the beer manufacturer based on whistleblowing testimony from former high placed employees in the business–at 13 separate breweries.

Will a North Carolina class action against Budweiser be next?

Anheuser-Busch has fought back vigorously against the bad press–the company recently took out full page ads in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, and eight other major newspapers touting the fact that the company provided 71 million cans of drinking water to the American Red Cross and other disaster organizations. The cheeky headline read “they must have tested one of these.”

But a lead attorney in the case, Josh Boxer, shrugged off the newspaper ad blitz as a “classic non-denial…(the) alcohol readings, taken six times a second as the finished product is bottled, will confirm the allegations made by the growing number of former employees who keep coming forward to tell us the truth.”

In court, Anheuser-Busch will need to produce data on its internal and alcohol testing procedures. Ten different products are tangled up in the legal matter, including well-known brands like Budweiser, Michelob, and Bud Ice as well as more “exotic” brands, like Hurricane High Gravity Lager and Bud Light Lime.

Do you have a potential Charlotte class action lawsuit?

The team here at the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo can help you understand and defend your rights to get compensation. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to file a personal injury suit or a mass tort action. Our team can help you strategize and determine the most effective, accurate course forward. Call us now for a free consultation, and get clarity on what you need to do.

In the hours and days since your North Carolina injury–or your family member’s injury- you have been in a mad scramble to get medical care and make sense of your options.

What steps should you be taking (or not taking) to manage the medical crisis, collect evidence, and deal with the urgent logistics in your life? Who is going to take care of the kids while you’re hurt? Who’s going to handle the big work project that you had to drop to deal with the catastrophe? How will you pay the mortgage now that you’ve spent thousands of dollars out of pocket on ambulance and hospital services?

After you wrangle these urgent details, you then need to scramble to recalibrate everything in your life. You will also need to find a way to deal with the tremendous challenges of finding appropriate representation:

Do you have a case or not?

If so, what should you do first?

Whom can you trust?

How can you evaluate different law firms against one another?

How can you work effectively with a law firm to make sure that you get clear answers and good communication throughout the process?

All of these urgent questions might be on your mind. And they all need to be addressed.

The several lining–if there is one–is that, once you do get all of these things taken care of, assuming you have done everything effectively, you should enjoy renewed peace of mind.

The great gift that a solid North Carolina mass tort law firm can provide is the gift of clarity.

Even though your life may feel like it’s in a million pieces right now–if you know exactly what’s going to happen next and what to expect; and if you have trusted people working on your behalf–much of the stress and agitation will lift.

Obviously, even a superb law firm is not going to magically make your injury go away or eliminate the anger and frustration you feel about what happened. But you should feel a sense of relief and security that you are moving in the right direction.

And when people feel like their lives are moving in a positive direction, they often see passed their immediate limitations and handle the process with more grace and patience.

Connect with the DeMayo Law team right now for strategic, insightful assistance with your Charlotte personal injury matter.

Why have you yet to file a North Carolina class action lawsuit? Why haven’t you take action to protect your rights and to hold a dubious insurance company or narcissistic boss or negligent product maker to any kind of account?

After all, you have plenty of reason to want to take action. Exhibit A: your serious injury or your loved one’s serious injury. Exhibit B: your strong belief (perhaps supported by evidence) that someone or some institution has not played fair with you–either failed to warn you about some danger or put you in harm’s way due to negligence, misanthropy, carelessness, fatigue, or some combination of bad factors.

Yet you are restrained. You are not taking action.

Rather than beat yourself up over this, recognize this “timidity problem” is incredibly common among accident victims. The tort reform lobby likes to paint North Carolina personal injury plaintiffs as somehow overly entitled or venal. This stereotype is totally incorrect–and almost the reverse of what’s true.

Most people who get injured are extremely reluctant to take their fight to the court system, even when they have extremely good reason to do so.

The reason they’re so reluctant is that most people don’t like to make waves. They don’t like the idea of “suing” someone or some company. It sounds really aggressive. Plus, when you “sue” someone or put up any kind of legal fight, you need to jump through all sorts of hoops and possibly retain a North Carolina personal injury class action lawyer (which can be an intimidating proposition). Then you may need to get embroiled in a battle that puts your reputation on the line (or at least so you fear). Ultimately, you may not even get results.

Thus, you could fight very hard, get your hopes up and then see those hopes dashed.

No, the problem is not that too many people pursue legal action–it’s that timid people who should at least consider their options are intimidated from exploring their options.

Understand that it’s an act of tremendous bravery and courage just to pick the phone and connect with a mass tort law firm, like DeMayo, at (877) 529-1222. Calling our firm or any reputable firm may force you to abandon your comfort zone, temporarily. And when you are sick and injured or financially struggling, the last thing you want to do is “go out of your comfort zone” even more.

But recognize that you owe to yourself and your family to understand your rights and options, even if you never decide to act on them through the court system. First, seek help, and then make a more informed decision once you know your options better.

There are conflicting reports as to what caused an 80-pound American Bully terrier to attack a 7-year-old boy. While the victim, Malik Albright, claims the Charlotte, North Carolina dog attack occurred because another 7-year-old, Elijah Howzer, told his dog, named “DK,” to attack, Howzer’s family is disputing the allegations.

They contend that Albright jumped over the fence into their yard and that is when DK started pursuing him. Albright sustained injuries to the ear, face, and leg from the incident.

In North Carolina, Charlotte, dog bite lawyer Michael A. DeMayo represents children and adults injured in animal attacks. Because the state’s personal injury laws involve contributory negligence, if a victim contributed to his/her injuries, he/she cannot recover any compensation. This is just one of the many reasons why it is important to consult with someone like North Carolina injury attorney DeMayo right away.

Dog bite injuries can be extremely severe, and the physical and emotional injuries may take their toll. Some dog bites can be so vicious that the victim may have to undergo numerous surgeries, including cosmetic surgery, and he/she may still be left disfigured.

Charlotte, NC personal injury lawyer Michael A. DeMayo is familiar with the steps involved in filing your dog bite claim and he knows what needs to be done prove that you are owed financial recovery by a negligent dog owner, premise owner, or any other responsible party. Attorney DeMayo has helped North Carolina dog bite victims recover compensation for medical bills, future medical expenses, permanent disability, lost income, permanent disfigurement and scarring, loss of enjoyment of life, and wrongful death.

To give you one recent example of a Charlotte dog bite attack that left a child with injuries so severe that he needed a lot more than a visit to the doctor to heal, 6-year-old Jakob Clark was in the hospital more than 35 days after a pit bull attacked him in December 2010. His legs and arms were so badly damaged that doctors didn’t know whether he would be able to walk again. Jakob was put on a ventilator and had to undergo over a dozen surgeries. He also has needed extensive physical therapy.

Sometimes, a person’s injuries are so severe that future as well as current costs have to be assessed and factored in as part of your financial recovery. By working with someone like Charlotte, North Carolina dog attack attorney Michael A. DeMayo, you have someone who has the legal experience and skills to represent you.

Dog Bites Happen More Often in the Summer, Says Study

According to some researchers, with summer fast approaching, the risk of young kids being bitten by a dog goes up. Per their study, published in Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery in 2009, they think this may be because many kids that are out of school tend to spend more time outdoors where they are more likely to encounter dogs. Also, some dogs tend to become more irritable when the weather is hotter.

Your first consultation with Charlotte, North Carolina dog bite lawyer DeMayo is free. Should you decide to retain the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo, you will only pay for legal services out of any financial recovery.

Call 1- 877-529-1222. Charlotte, North Carolina injury attorney DeMayo and his law firm have helped over 35,000 across the Carolinas since 1992.

Dog owner disagrees with 7-year-old’s story of attack, WCNC, May 14, 2012

St. Matthew reaches out to boy mauled by dog, South Charlotte Weekly, January 13, 2011

In what appears to be a North Carolina drowning accident in a lagoon at a wastewater-treatment plant, a 12-year-old boy lost his ilfe on Friday after he entered the premise through a back fence with 13 other youths. According to police, the boy slipped on a plastic liner that was there to prevent the waste from leaking through the sides and bottom of the lagoon and landed in the water. Two of the kids he was with jumped in to try to save him but failed.

Rescue workers used a net to sift through the 2-3-acre sewage treatment pond. Unfortunately, lightning forced them to stop the search until Saturday morning.

They recovered the boy’s body at around 11:30am today. Northampton County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Parnel said that because rescuers were dealing with a sewage treatment bond, divers were not able to the water. Also, because the pond’s bottom is a rubber line that could be ruptured, they could not use drag instruments and metal rods.

North Carolina Wrongful Death

If someone you love was killed in an accident on another person’s property, you may have grounds for a wrongful death lawsuit involving North Carolina premises liability. However, a lot of this will depend on the specifics of your case and the experience of your legal representation.

For example, generally, people who were hurt on a property that they weren’t given permission to be on usually cannot sue for damages. That said, there are exceptions. For example, there is the “attractive nuisance” doctrine. Per the rule, if the property owner anticipates that a minor might enter the property, then the landowner must exercise reasonable care to prevent North Carolina injuries to a minor. The doctrine provides protection to small children or those whose age is “tender.” However, the doctrine doesn’t apply to “common dangers” and in certain cases, it has been found that the premise owner’s responsibility only existed where he/she knew that the minor was on the grounds. Yet there have been cases where constructive knowledge was enough.

Obviously, North Carolina premises liability law, its interpretation, and any exceptions can be complex and difficult to understand without legal help. Other reasons why someone might choose to sue a property owner for personal injury or wrongful death may involve inadequate security, hazardous conditions, improper maintenance, failure to warn of dangers, failure to remedy unsafe conditions, failure to prevent potential accidents despite the foreseeable scenarios, and neglecting to warn about violent crimes that happened on or near the property.

Preventing North Carolina Drowning Accidents: CPSC’s Pool and Spa Drain Cover Recall is a Reminder that Entrapment Can Lead to Serious Injuries and Death, North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog, June 6, 2011

High Point Pool Drowning Accident Claims the Life of Teenager in North Carolina, North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog, June 22, 2010

Road Where Charlotte, North Carolina Truck Crash that Claimed the Lives of Two Young Brothers Happened Has No Sidewalk, North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog, February 23, 2012

Small magnets can pose a dangerous choking hazard. Little enough to place in the mouth and easy to swallow, magnets can also pose other serious dangers—especially when more than one magnet is involved.

Unfortunately, these items don’t lose their magnetic attraction to each other even after ingestion and should they find themselves being pulled toward each other, serious human injury can result, including blood poisoning, the creation of holes in the stomach or intestines, intestinal blockage, or death. Depending on the specifics of what happened, this could be grounds for a Charlotte, North Carolina products liability case.

Recently in the US, a 3-year-old girl had to undergo surgery after she swallowed 37 Buckyballs magnets. The little pieces found each other inside her and when an X-ray was conducted the images showed that the magnets had joined up to form into the shape of a bracelet. (Buckyballs has said that it does warn about the hazards posed by its magnets, which are made for adults.)

Kids and the elderly are especially prone to serious injuries from swallowing magnets. With children, however, the risk is especially high. Very young kids are already prone to putting small items in their mouths to begin with and most of them are not yet able to realize the potential consequences of their actions. Some older kid have also been known to swallow magnets.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says that it is aware of 33 incidents involving kids swallowing magnets. 19 of these children had to undergo surgery. One child died.

A manufacturer can be held liable for Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury if its defective or dangerous product caused the injury or death. Because of the complexity involved with these types of cases, it is important that you work with an experienced North Carolina injury law firm that understands the nature of products liability cases and knows how to pursue your financial recovery.

In North Carolina, the doctrine of contributory negligence can prevent a plaintiff from recovering anything if his/her negligence was a proximate cause of injury. However, there is a doctrine of last clear chance that can allow this plaintiff to recover compensation if it can be proven that he/she put his/her self in a state of helpless peril, the defendant knew or should have known about this perilous state and the plaintiff’s inability to get out of it and/or could have, by exercising reasonable care, prevented the injury from happening.

Every case is different. By working with an experienced Charlotte, North Carolina products liability lawyer, you increase your chances of recovery.

Contact the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo, LLP and ask for your free case evaluation.

In an effort to increase child safety for kids weighing over 65 pounds, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is introducing a new crash test dummy for booster and child safety seats for bigger kids. The “10-Year-old Child” dummy will help provide information related to injury risk involving chest acceleration, knee excursion, and head excursion.

Also, the NHTSA has issued a final rule that now officially revises current federal child safety seat standard to include boosters and car seats for kids weighing 66-80 pounds. This standard will assess whether higher-weight restraint systems are able to manage crash energy, as well determine if a seat’s structure will stay intact when the dummy is used during testing. Car seat and booster seat makers will have two years to certify that their child car safety devices for higher-weight kids fulfill the latest requirements.

The final rule and new testing requirements are the latest in the government’s efforts to promote car safety for children. Last year, NHTSA urged caregivers and parents to keep kids in harnessed car seats for as long as they can and ensure that weight and height requirements were met and maxed out before deciding that a child no longer needed a booster or car seat. The federal safety agency’s child seat guidance also urged that kids be made to use booster seats until they grew to a size large enough that a seat belt was sufficient to keep them properly secured—especially during a car crash.

Our Charlotte, North Carolina car accident lawyers represent families whose kids were injured in catastrophic car crashes. Although in many cases the negligent driver or the maker of a defective vehicle will likely be the negligent party, sometimes, a child involved in an auto collision does sustain serious injuries because a car seat was defective or failed. In these instances, the victim’s family may have grounds for a North Carolina products liability case against the child safety seat manufacturer.

Just this January, Britax Child Safety, Inc. recalled about 14,220 Chaperone Infant Car Seats because the chair’s harness adjuster had a defective. If the adjuster were to come off the seat, it could render the safety harness straps that secure a baby useless. At the time that the recall was announced, NHTSA said it didn’t know of any injuries or deaths related to the car seat defect.

It is important that you buy a child safety seat that is the right size for your child (according to age, height, or weight). The car seat must also be a good fit with the vehicle it will be used in, and it must be properly installed.

Our Lumberton, North Carolina child injury attorneys know how devastating it can be to realize that your child was hurt because of someone else’s negligence or due to a situation that was out of your control but could have been prevented.

Brothers Kadrien Brewton, 5, and Jeremy Brewton, 1, died yesterday when a Sears delivery truck struck them. The Charlotte, North Carolina truck accident happened in the morning as they were walking with their dad, Jeremy Brewton, to day care. Jeremy and their baby sister, who was in a stroller, did not sustain injuries.

Police have charged truck driver Jerome Brewton with two counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. Neighbors have said that the area of West Tyvola Road where the deadly collision happened is in desperate need of speed bumps or a sidewalk, which doesn’t exist for about a tenth of a mile stretch despite the fact that pedestrians often walk there and two school bus stops are located nearby.

According to the CharlotteObserver.com, a city transportation department spokesperson has confirmed that West Tyvola from West Boulevard to Old Steele Creek Road needs a sidewalk. Previous to yesterday’s crash, two North Carolina pedestrian accidents have taken place on that area of road in the last 15 years.

Depending on who caused the deadly Charlotte, NC truck collision, the children’s families may have grounds for a North Carolina wrongful death case against the truck driver, Sears, and/or the city. The employer of a truck driver that accidentally kills someone in a crash while on the job can be held liable, as can other related parties, such as the contractor that rented the truck or the manufacturer of a truck that was defective. A government entity also can be held responsible for failing to make a road safe enough by not putting into place an appropriate speed limit, speed bumps, sidewalks, a traffic sign, traffic lights, a pedestrian lane, or other necessary elements.

The siblings are not the only ones to lose their lives in a North Carolina traffic crash this week. Last night, two people died when a sport utility vehicle that was involved in a police chase struck the vehicle that they were riding. The victims are former Belmont Mayor Kevin Loftin, 56, and his friend Donna Jean Deitz, 60. They were pronounced dead at the crash site. Two other people who were riding a PT Cruiser that was also hit sustained minor injuries.

The Gaston car accident occurred at around 10:15pm. The SUV’s driver, Lester Saunders Norman, Jr., was charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Police say that they started chasing Norman when he failed to stop at a DWI checkpoint. He was reportedly driving at a speed of around 75 mph when the North Carolina auto collision happened. Norman was operating without a license.

Following the crash, police say that Norman attempted to flee the accident site but was soon apprehended. He is charged with reckless driving while intoxicated, felony death by vehicle, failure to stop at a red light, speeding, assault with a deadly weapon on government officials, driving with a revoked license, and resisting a public officer.

In this type of situation, the victims’ families may be able to pursue a claim not just against a negligent driver but also against police if they could/should have been able to prevent the pursuit from turning deadly.

Every Charlotte, North Carolina car accident is different. The only way to find out if you have a case is to speak with an experienced motor vehicle crash law firm right away. At the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo, LLP, we represent clients in Gaston, Mecklenburg, Union, Catawba, Cabarrus, Lincoln, Cleveland, Caldwell, Rowan, Iredell, Stanley, Burke, Alexander, Robeson, Richmond, Scotland, Cumberland, and Anson, North Carolina. We also represent clients in Lancaster, Marlboro, Chesterfield, York, and Dillon, South Carolina.

High school seniors in South Carolina and North Carolina that want to be considered for a $2,500 college scholarship have until February 27 to submit their application to The Michael A. DeMayo Scholarship Program.

Our North Carolina personal injury law firm has been proud to help students make their dream of higher education a reality since 2003.

Last year, a record number of creative and intelligent young applicants sent their impressive presentations and applications to us. It is clear that there are many young people out there that are just as passionate as we are about the need to stop teens from driving drunk.

Participants must fill out an application form, as well as turn in a presentation that encourages other teenagers to refrain from drinking while driving. Letters of recommendation, your high school transcript, a list of your volunteer activities, and details of any school and community involvement are also required. 15 scholarship recipients will receive $2,500 from our Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury law firm.

The Michael A. DeMayo Scholarship Program is open to seniors studying in the North Carolina counties of Gaston, Mecklenburg, Union, Catawba, Cleveland, Cabarrus, Rowan, Lincoln, Stanly, Caldwell, Alexander, Iredell, Robeson, Burke, Richmond, Scotland, Cumberland, and Anson, as well as the South Carolina counties of Chesterfield, Lancaster, York, Dillon, and Marlboro.

Visit The Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo online for more information and/or download an application. You can also “Like” us on Facebook. For more information, contact Kristine Woolley at kwoolley@demayolaw.com or you can call her at (704) 343-4644.

Teenagers and Drunk Driving

With traffic crashes continuing to be the leading cause of deaths among young drivers in the 15-20 age group, it is imperative that teenagers continue be made aware of how dangerous it is to drive while intoxicated. Not only is it illegal for anyone under 21 to consume alcohol, but also drinking dramatically increases the chances of a South Carolina/North Carolina car crash. Combine inebriation with driver inexperience, youth, speeding, failure to wear seat belts, loud music, other teens in the car, drug use, and cell phone use or text messaging while driving, and you have a deadly combination.

Our North Carolina personal injury law firm supports young people in empowering themselves and their fellow teens to drive sober. Our hope is that together, we can educate teens while saving lives.

The Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo represents victims of South Carolina/North Carolina truck accident, car crashes, bus collisions, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents. We help our clients and their families recover personal injury and wrongful death compensation from all liable parties.

Two Newton-Conover High School students were arrested last week after they were accused of assaulting a freshman while allegedly hazing him. All of the students involved belonged to the school’s wrestling team. Depending on what happened and the extent of the freshman’s injuries, he and his family could have grounds for a Catawba County, North Carolina personal injury case.

According to school superintended Barry Redmonds, the incident occurred last week. Team members were gathered in the practice room when someone turned out the lights while another team member put the freshman in a wrestling hold. That was when a third person allegedly assaulted him.

The student who held the freshman down claims and didn’t know that the assault was going to happen was suspended for three days. The other student who allegedly committed the assault was suspended for the rest of the semester and kicked off the wrestling team.

Hazing

If your son or daughter was involved in a hazing incident at school, you may want to speak with an experienced Newton personal injury law firm to find out about your legal options.

Hazing is sometimes used as an initiation practice for new members joining a group. It is most often associated with joining a college fraternity or sorority. However, other groups have been known engage in hazing.

Although considered by many to be in good fun, hazing can take a dangerous turn if the person that is the target gets hurt. Alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, and physical assault are just some of the more dangerous consequences of hazing gone awry. Death may even result.

The practice of hazing has been widely written about in the media lately in the wake of the death of a Florida A & M University student. Robert Champion Jr., who belonged to the marching band, died last month after he was allegedly hazed. According to one expert who looked at Champion’s final autopsy report, which was released this week, the 26-year-old student had sustained the type of muscle damage that is commonly associated with child abuse, extensive seizures, car accidents, and torture.

It was just last week that the medical examiner’s office called Champion’s death a homicide. His family will likely file a wrongful death lawsuit against the school.

Following Champion’s death, Bria Hunter, another Florida A&M University student, is suing the school for personal injury because says she too was brutally hazed by members of the marching band. Hunter claims that she sustained a cracked femur from the beating.

North Carolina Personal Injury

Schools can be held liable if students are injured while under their supervision. It is the responsibility of school officials to make sure that activities that take place do not place anyone at risk of serious injury or death. To determine whether you have grounds for a Newton, North Carolina personal injury case, you should contact the Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo, LLP today.